


Toss Me!!

by Graysonsginger



Series: Toss Me!! [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Everyone Is Gay, Multi, alternate universe - cheerleaders
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-14
Updated: 2016-07-19
Packaged: 2018-03-22 20:35:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3742714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Graysonsginger/pseuds/Graysonsginger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hinata and Kageyama are the newest members of Karasuno High School Cheer Squad, the former cheer champions of Japan. Through a series of adventures, anecdotes, romantic endeavors, cheer offs, and more this team will rise back to the top.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prep the Pep

**Author's Note:**

> IMPORTANT: If you read chapter 1 before June 17th 2016 YOU WILL WANT TO REREAD THIS CHAPTER !!! I made some edits and added a scene to make the overall story flow better.

It pained Kageyama to say it, but he was making an effort to be the better person, so he pushed the words out anyway.

“We have to work together.”

Hinata’s eyes widened at the words coming from the boy who’d just been yelling insults at him not two seconds ago. He took a step back from his rival.

“I guess you’re right. You got a plan?” Hinata asked finally unclenching his fist from Kageyama’s shirt. Kageyama in turn let his hand fall from where it’d been tightly gripping the top of Hinata’s head.

“I might have something…” Kageyama said with a sly grin.

The two cheerleaders’ constant bickering and overt aggression towards each other caused Captain Daichi to kick them out, saying there was no room on the squad for cheerleaders who couldn’t work together. Neither Hinata nor Kageyama took it very well, remaining outside the gym, spying on practice best they could without Daichi or Suga noticing. They hoped the captain’s rage would blow over, but it seemed Daichi could hold a grudge just as well as he could back tuck.

So, following Kageyama’s sudden stroke of genius, the two first years challenged their senpais to a cheer off. Daichi, with frightening vigor, accepts. Though, he does make some additional conditions. First, they’d be competing along with Tanaka against Daichi and the two other first years who had signed up. Second, if Hinata and Kageyama won they’d be allowed on the team, but if they lost, they were banned from the squad for life. High stakes, but what in cheerleading isn’t? The two accept the conditions.

\--

Hinata felt like he could explode with excitement as he ran through the freezing morning air to his secret practice with Kageyama and Tanaka. He spotted Kageyama in his peripheral vision and hastened his pace. Kageyama, spotting bright orange hair, sped up as well, and soon he and Hinata were all out racing to the gym.

“Ha! I got here first!” Hinata exclaimed jumping into the air excitedly.

“Damn.” A voice muttered. Hinata and Kageyama turned to see Tanaka approaching rubbing eye-boogers from his eyes and mumbling through a large yawn, “You can really jump Hinata-kun.”

“Haha. I guess yeah.” Hinata agreed politely.

“Bro, let me see your toe-touch,” Tanaka said, finally sounding like an awake person.

“Ooh! Okay!!” Hinata immediately jumped as high as he could and stretched his legs out to his sides, his fingers reaching his toes easily. His form wasn’t perfect but the height of his jump and his obvious flexibility was impressive for a first year who’s never even been on a proper squad.

Kageyama watched quietly as Tanaka asked Hinata to do pikes and herkies and side hurdles, but finally lost patience.

“C’mon. Let’s get inside and practice already.”

“Yeah!” Hinata punched his fist in the air adorably while Tanaka unlocked the gym. He laughed as the pair fought each other in doorway so they could be the first in the gym. Eventually, Tanaka just shoved both of them inside at the same time.

“Get to it! Each team’ll get a minute, so we gotta figure out our routine quick. What sort of tumbling can you guys do?”

“I can do a roundoff back tuck.” Kageyama answered — proud of this recent accomplishment.

“Oh, I can do, um, let’s see handsprings back and front, round offs, tucks, layouts… oh! And I’ve been practicing whips, should have those down soon.” Kageyama got more annoyed with every item Hinata listed.

“Show off.” He grumbled, but Hinata just gave him a devilish _you jealous?_ grin that looked far too comedic on his boyish face.

“That sounds great! We’ll make great use of both of you. What stunts are you guys comfortable with? As your senpai I can teach you things, but we only got a week so…”

“I wanna fly!” Hinata shouted.

Kageyama looked between Hinata and Tanaka before shrugging, “We can do a few basket tosses right?”

After stretching, they started with a simple elevation stunt. No point risking bloody noses or worse for lack of patience. Even with this though, Kageyama felt his heart clench in worry. He’d been practically ostracized from his middle school team after the competition incident, and while he of course had been practicing, it was difficult to trust himself again.

For some reason, Hinata made it easy. From his cheery, squirmy, annoyingly energetic disposition, Kageyama would’ve expected him to be a real hassle to fly, but right as Kageyama’s hands cupped Hinata’s foot, the boy sobered immediately. Tanaka even did a double take as he felt the shift in atmosphere. For a split second, Hinata’s face was pure intensity, the boyishness replaced by stone cold focus. It was gone in an instant however because the second Hinata’s whole body lifted off the ground a smile stretched giddily across his face.

Childlike personality returning to his smiley, childlike features, Hinata called down to his teammates,

“Toss me!”

“You’ll probably fall and die! I’m not prepared to catch you in this position!” Tanaka yelled back.

“We have mats! And we’ve done this like three whole times already. We got it.” Hinata protested as Kageyama and Tanaka let him down gently.

“We can’t do a basket toss with just two bases!” Tanaka argued.

“I’m light! And just _look_ at Kageyama’s biceps. He could probably lift me _by himself_.” Hinata squeezed Kageyama’s biceps as if to emphasize his point.

“It’s true, Hinata is so small and light that you and I could easily catch him.” Kageyama reasoned, hesitantly.

“We need someone to spot at least! This is the first time we’ve ever stunted together!” Tanaka surprised even himself with how responsible he sounded.

“I’ll spot for you.” A friendly voice said from the gym entrance.

The three cheerleaders turned to see Vice-Captain Sugawara approaching, a kind smile on his elegant face.

“Suga-san!” Tanaka gasped in surprise. “We-we weren’t doing anything um-”

Suga rolled his eyes, “Save it, Ryuu. I won’t tell Daichi.”

Tanaka laughed, “Okay then. I guess we can try some more advanced stuff. Let’s just practice a nice, simple straight ride. We throw Hinata in the air and catch him. No fancy spinning stuff.”

“Aww man.” Hinata groaned, yet positioned himself to be lifted regardless. He would never turn down a chance to get tossed.

“And don’t toss him too high.” Suga warned Kageyama who meakly nodded. Though normally he would begrudge the upperclassman for the instruction, Kageyama’s previous teammates had made their frustrations with him clear. At least for this first practice, Kageyama could try to behave himself.

Suga stood quite close by. Though he trusted Tanaka, he was well aware of Kageyama Tobio aka the King of Cheer’s reputation, and already he felt a protective instinct around the small-framed Hinata. Suga was tempted to just go ahead and base though Tanaka insisted that they were going to have to do the stunt on their own in a week anyway.

Kageyama and Tanaka crouched as Hinata stepped into their hands. Tanaka, to Kageyama’s displeasure, was the main base and thus held more of Hinata’s foot and controlled most of the power behind the toss. For all his hubris though, Kageyama’s heart sped with nervousness as Hinata braced himself on his bases’ shoulders.

“One... Two… Three...” Tanaka counted as he and Kageyama bounced downwards to ease Hinata’s jump into their hands. It was a painstakingly slow count and the toss was so small Hinata barely fell the wind in his hair.

“Higher!” The overzealous flyer demanded, when he landed in Tanaka and Kageyama’s arms.

With an encouraging nod from Suga, they tried tossing a little higher. Still, though, Hinata was disappointed. He didn’t have time for a full extension or anything. It was more like they were messing around than cheering.

“C’mon let’s do this for real!” Hinata said, frustrated.

So again they tossed Hinata, and again he demanded higher. Higher and faster. More and more, until Tanaka called for a break, whining about how much his arms ached. Suga soothed him with some half-joking words about how all the girls would swoon over his gun show.

“And guys too right Suga?” Tanaka rolled up his sleeves (showing great restraint not taking off his shirt entirely) and flexed. “You like what you see right?”

“Sorry Tanaka. You’re not my type.” Suga winked and Tanaka barked out laughing.

Kageyama drank his water and stretched, staying out of his senpai’s conversation. But after knowing Hinata for two days (not counting the span of time he’d apparently been the boy’s rival), he was not surprised that the boy chimed in.

“Are you gay Tanaka-senpai?”

Once again Tanaka laughed, “I’m bi as hell!”

“No way! Me too!” Hinata jumped and high-fived Tanaka. “Bi buddies!”

“Oh man, I can’t wait ‘til you meet Noya and Asahi and Ennoshita. Actually… now that I think about it, basically the entire squad is gay. I mean, you’re gay right Suga-san?” Tanaka asked.

Suga gave a noncommittal shrug, “I guess. I’ve only ever liked one guy so I don’t know. Maybe I fall on the aro or ace spectrum.”

“The what?” Hinata asked.

“He’s saying he might not usually experience romantic or sexual attraction.” Tanaka offered as explanation.

“Oh that’s cool.” Hinata said, considering the new information, planning to Google it when he got home.

Kageyama, not exactly wanting the conversation to turn on him, took one last chug from his water bottle before getting up, “Can we get back to practice? We have limited time.”

“But my arms, man, my aaarrrms.” Tanaka whined again.

“Well you guys need to come up with a cheer right?” Suga offered, and Tanaka looked at him like he was a beautiful angel sent from heaven to save him.

“Yeah, we should work on the rest of the routine,” Kageyama agreed despite Hinata aiming pouts at everyone.

“We can stunt some more! Come on toss me! We can totally get more height!”

As annoying as it was that Hinata only ever thought about flying and didn’t seem to consider the rest of the routine at all, Kageyama had to respect his fearless determination. Though he probably would never admit it out loud. At least not yet.

“Dumbass, we can’t practice more until we know what we’re doing. Let's decide on a song and the cheer and the choreography— the timing, the tumbling passes, the jumps.” Kageyama was already planning the whole thing in his head, not really looking for anyone to change the ideas he already had. Unfortunately, he had the feeling Tanaka, Hinata, and even Suga would have an opinion.

Hinata brought out pens and paper, resigned to the planning, “Well, let’s get this over with! I wanna fly!”

\--

Yamaguchi watched Tsukishima fondly as they walked home from cheer practice. Though Tsukishima’s poker face was infallible, Yamaguchi could tell from his slow gait that Tsukki was just as tired as he was. Right when Yamaguchi was wondering what kind of people their opponents for tomorrow’s cheer off were, he bumped into Tsukki who had stopped dead on the road.

“Tsukki, what are you-” Yamaguchi mumbled but quieted when he heard the bickering voices near-by.

“Watch it! You can’t go into the T like that you’re gonna punch someone’s eye out. Do it like this.”

“Ugh! I can do it myself, you don’t have to get all handsy.”

Yamaguchi peered from behind Tsukki to see a very short, orange-haired boy and a taller, black-haired boy glaring at each other. They both wore exercise clothes and held pompoms in their hands.

“Well, well.” Tsukishima said. Yamaguchi raised an eyebrow, simultaneously surprised and not surprised that despite his tiredness Tsukki was about to seriously smack-talk their opponents.

The short boy did a pivot turning sequence with intermittent “T” poses, and on the last one, he energetically punched the air with such wild force that one of his pompom went flying. Tsukishima caught it with a smirk.

“Look, Yamaguchi, it’s amateur hour.” Tsukki commented. Yamaguchi snickered.

“What?” Hinata looked up, acknowledging the other two cheerleaders’ presence.

Kageyama looked back, confused. “Who are you?”

“Tsukishima Kei. That’s Yamaguchi Tadashi. And, I’m guessing you’re unfortunately our opponents for Friday’s cheer off.” Tsukishima said. Yamaguchi waved shyly when he was introduced.

“Unfortunately? What’s that supposed to me?” The taller boy demanded, clearly short of temper.

“Oh, huh. You’re Kageyama Tobio. The King of Cheer.” Tsukishima said slyly, “No wonder.”

“Hello? I’m here too!” The orange haired boy said, but Tsukki ignored him.

“I could hear the King’s commands from the bottom of the hill, but here I find you bossing around a grade-schooler.”

“I AM NOT A—” The short boy shouted indignantly, but Tsukishima continued to ignore him while Yamaguchi tried to hold in his laughter.

“I thought you were King of Cheer not King of Children.”

Kageyama’s brows knitted together. He gritted his teeth, looking about ready to punch someone, “You better watch your mouth four-eyes.”

“Ha!” Tsukishima smiled in near-genuine amusement, “You even use child’s insults. How cute. Quite suited for the tantrum-throwing tyrant.” Tsukishima waved the pompom he’d caught. “You can’t fly someone with baby arms.” As Tsukishima waved the pompom above his head, Yamaguchi spied the short boy falling eerily silent, staring with ferocious intensity at the shiny tinsel puffball.

“Uh Tsukki-” Yamaguchi attempted a warning, but was too quiet and too slow because the orange-haired boy already leapt up. With apparent ease, he reached Tsukishima’s over six-foot height and tore the pompom out of his hand.

The short boy landed on the ground on one knee with a light thud. Staring directly at Tsukishima, the he smiled triumphantly, “I’m Hinata Shouyou! You better not forget that name!”

“Hmph. And you better pray the King doesn’t let you drop tomorrow. C’mon Yamaguchi let’s let the losers practice.”

“Okay, Tsukki!” Yamaguchi paused for a moment, though, to turn back to Kageyama and Hinata, giving them a polite if awkward nod. “It was nice to meet you.”

Kageyama and Hinata watched, stunned and irritated as Tsukishima and Yamaguchi walked away.

“They’re so tall!” Hinata exclaimed, jealousy in his voice.

Kageyama just stared, gears running in his brain.

“And did you see the biceps on Tsukishima? And they have the cheer captain on their team!”

“That’s it!” Kageyama shouted in sudden realization.

“W-whut’s it?”

“I know how we’re going to win!” Kageyama grinned with such maniacal enthusiasm that Hinata couldn’t help smiling back with equal excitement.

“Heck yeah!”


	2. Cheer Off!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT: If you read chapter 1 before June 17th 2016 YOU WILL WANT TO AT LEAST GO READ THE LAST SCENE WHICH WAS ADDED RECENTLY

Tanaka lay in his bed, shirtless. He’d just taken a shower. Though, he preferred doing things with as little clothes as possible; so, he probably would’ve been shirtless anyway.

His phone buzzed on his nightstand. He sighed reaching to text back, assuming it was Noya complaining about (read: pining for) Asahi again. But the name Tanaka saw lighting up his phone wasn’t “Yuu <3” but “Kageyama”.

 **Kageyama:** Tanaka-san. I have a plan for a sure-fire win tomorrow. Please get to practice early.

Tanaka scratched his head in confusion. Was this freshman really going to change their routine the day of the cheer off? His phone buzzed again and Hinata’s name appeared on his phone.

 **☆Hinata☆:** Tanaka-senpai! Please come to practice early! Bakageyama has a great idea for the routine! We’re definitely gonna beat that jerky glasses guy and his freckles friend.

This only served to confuse Tanaka even further. He started a group message.

 **Tanaka:** “Glasses guy” and “freckles friend”? Y’mean Tsukishima and Yamaguchi?

 **☆Hinata☆:** Yep!

 **Kageyama:** What horrible nicknames.

 **☆Hinata☆:** Bakageyama!

 **☆Hinata☆:** My nicknames are great!  >:p

 **Tanaka:** That’s not the point! What’s the plan?

 **☆Hinata☆:** I’m gonna fly!

 **Tanaka:** What?

 **Kageyama:** You were always gonna fly dumbass! I realized Daichi’s team is all really tall bases. Their stunts are going to be simple. But we have Hinata who I can lift with one arm.

 **Tanaka:** Yeah okay so we’re gonna do some sick stunts.

 **Kageyama:** Your gonna spot while I solo base Hinata.

 **Tanaka:** WHAT!?  
That sounds incredibly dangerous  
Suga will kill me

 **☆Hinata☆:** But it’ll look awesome!

 **Kageyama:** We will win

 **Tanaka:** …Those are solid points  
I’m in.

\--

That’s how Tanaka ended up spotting the first-years’ stupidly dangerous stunt. He felt himself shaking a little as he tried to stop thinking about the horrible ways Suga would harm him if Hinata died.

“Maybe we shouldn’t…” He said hesitantly. Sure Tanaka was certain the stunt would _look_ spectacular, and they’d practiced the stunt as a basic lift, but this… this was too much. Tanaka still wasn’t sure he could trust Kageyama by himself. Having only two bases was already a risk.

“I’m gonna do it!” Hinata shouted, creepily overjoyed for someone who was seconds away from slamming face-face first into the mats on the gym floor.

Kageyama poised himself to catch and throw his teammate. Tanaka hovered close, cold sweat forming on his brow. He held his breath, watching anxiously.

Pushing his own anxiety down, Kageyama forced himself to breathe steady. He saw Hinata handspringing towards him as if in slow motion. As Hinata’s feet came dangerously close to his face, Kageyama crouched and grabbed Hinata by the waist while he was still tumbling upside-down through the air. The contact was brief, though, because Kageyama immediately redirected Hinata’s momentum and threw him upwards. Tanaka’s arms lifted instinctively to catch the first-year when he fell. But Hinata didn’t fall.

He flew.

Hinata felt the wind through his hair as his body spun upwards. Looking out at the dizzy world around him, his lips spread automatically into a wide smile. When he felt the peak of his flight, he flipped his body around. Tanaka’s hands hovered ready, but Kageyama caught Hinata’s feet with pin-point accuracy. Despite some wobbling, Hinata stood up straight, extending his arms into a tight “V” shape. Tanaka let out a squeaky, amazed scream.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe that worked! I thought Hinata was gonna die for sure! I think my heart stopped!” Tanaka exclaimed clutching his chest dramatically.

Kageyama and Tanaka helped Hinata down and they all grinned at each other excitedly.

“We’re _so_ gonna win.” They said together.

But when they went to try again Hinata ended up slamming into Kageyama. Then Hinata twisted too much in the air, and Kageyama couldn’t quite catch him. Of course, Tanaka was an experienced spotter and easily caught Hinata in his awaiting arms, but Kageyama was already feeling disheartened. Until Hinata scrambled out of Tanaka’s arms and said,

“Oh my gosh! You threw me so high that time you were all GWAAA and I was SPSHWA! Toss me again!”

They only managed to successfully practice the stunt once more though before they heard the gym doors opening and Daichi, Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, and Suga walked inside.

“Oh you’re here already Ryuu?” Daichi laughed — Tanaka was rarely an early bird.

“Yep! And we’re gonna kick your butt, Daichi.”

A smirk twitched at Daichi’s lips. Fire burned behind his eyes when he retorted, “Don’t count on it.”

Suga shoved Daichi’s shoulder. “Sorry about him. He’s too competitive for his own good.”

The other second years, Ennoshita, Narita, and Kinoshita, and the club advisor, Takeda-sensei, entered the gym, eager to watch the cheer off. Meanwhile the team manager Shimizu Kiyoko trailed behind. She wore a large pair of headphones so that they covered only one ear, and her gaze didn’t leave her iPOD until Daichi spoke up.

“Well, everyone’s here. With Takeda-sensei’s permission, I think we should start the cheer off.”

“My permission?” Takeda-sensei fumbled, obviously new to cheerleading, “Uh. Yes, um, let the cheer off begin!”

“We’ll go first,” Daichi said.

“To make it less embarrassing when we win.” Tsukishima added with a smirk to Kageyama and Hinata.

Kiyoko pulled out a boom box and started the music: a steady, danceable beat. Kageyama, Tanaka, and Hinata cleared off the blue mats, sitting with the rest of the Karasuno squad on the gym floor to watch.

Daichi clapped his hands, shouting, “Orange and Black!”

Tsukishima and Yamaguchi yelled back, “Karasuno Attack!” The three of them jumped into incredible toe touches — Daichi even did a standing back handspring a split second after he landed. Daichi finished off his flip with a tight “V” right as the base dropped.

They fell into on point cheer dance moves, clapping their hands together, wiggling their hips from side to side, and performing herkies with a flare of style neither Kageyama nor Hinata expected from any of their three teammates.

The three did a few tumbling passes each. Daichi showed off his powerful thighs with several consecutive round-off back tucks that achieved enough lift to make Hinata groan in jealousy. Tsukishima completed a seemingly effortless layout and ended it with the typical smile and wave to the audience, but his grin was so obviously fake it made Tanaka shudder. Yamaguchi went last and he proved to be the most flexible of the bunch as he spun through the air and dropped into a perfect split when he finished. His lips spread into a huge, joyful grin making him look spectacularly cute.

As the music quieted in preparation for the cheer segment (the most important and sassy segment of any cheer off), Yamaguchi and Tsukishima pulled off simultaneous standing back handspring and then stepped into lunge positions. Daichi climbed onto their legs— a simple thigh stand that, especially compared to the excellent tumbling, had Kageyama disappointed in his Cheer Captain.

Remaining sturdily perched on Tsukishima and Yamaguchi’s thighs, Daichi clapped his hands and yelled rhythmically, “When I say Orange! You say black! ORANGE”

“BLACK,” The two first years shouted. Tsukishima’s voice easily drowning out Yamaguchi’s.

“ORANGE”

“BLACK”

“KARASUNO!” Daichi somersaulted from his teammates’ thighs to the ground, using only his momentum to get standing again.

Tsukishima and Yamaguchi straightened up with the beat to yell, “ATTACK!” They cupped their hands together and then punched the air. Then the three rotated their triangle in a smooth pivoting dance move and Yamaguchi took center.

Compared to Daichi’s thundering voice, Yamaguchi’s cheer was a whisper, “Crows got brains! Crows got brawn! To get with this team. You gotta. Bring. It. On!”

Finishing his chant off, Yamaguchi jumped into a stunning pike, his long legs reaching impossibly high in the air.

The three rotated again, now with Tsukishima in the middle. He smirked, locking eyes with Kageyama. Though his voice was loud and peppy, there was a searing bite behind his words.

“Grumpy Cheer King thought himself tall. Still the Cheer King let his team fall.”

Kageyama lip curled reflexively back in a grimace. Tsukishima could tell he’d gotten under the former King’s skin. Grinning his shit-eatingest grin, the blonde executed a flawless round-off back tuck and landed on the other side of Yamaguchi from where Daichi stood and continued his unabashed taunt.

“All the King’s Horses. All the King’s Men. Left him without a friend. Your cheer days are about to end.”

Yamaguchi had been stepping back while Tsukishima cheered. As the taller boy finished, Yamaguchi started tumbling towards his teammates. The two bases caught him with practiced precision, and pushed the freckled boy upright as they elevated him above their heads. The height different did create some problems, as Daichi elevated his arms all the way above his head while Tsukishima’s remained bent, but it was clear just from comparing the three’s frames that Yamaguchi, despite his height, was the only one they could’ve pull the stunt off with.

Together they crowed, “Gooo! Karasuno!”

The small crowd whistled and applauded as Tsukishima and Daichi gently let Yamaguchi back to the ground and they all smiled and waved with over-acted delight.

“Daichi, oh my god you’re _thighs_.” Suga practically moaned.

“Flawless technique as always, Captain.” Tanaka mockingly saluted Daichi before aiming a stink eye at Tsukishima and sending his voice into a low, raspy pitch, “But we’re still gonna crush ya!”

Tsukishima made an incredulous sound that really rubbed Hinata the wrong way, “Hey! What was all that humpty dumpty ‘King’ stuff, Tsukishima?”

“Don’t you know why they call Kageyama ‘King’?” Tsukishima peered down at him through his glasses.

“Cuz’ he’s strong and smart and talented and stuff?” Hinata answered without hesitation. Kageyama might have blushed if he didn’t know Tsukishima was about to reveal the truth.

“Are you stupid? It’s because he’s a tyrant who uses his teammates like pawns. He pushes them to the breaking point and then throws them to the ground when they complain his tosses are too high and wild.” Tsukishima aimed a pointed look at the alleged tyrant, “I was at that competition last year. You got kicked off the routine on the second day. Or should I say, your teammates voted you off because you were so hated.”

The words felt like daggers stabbing through Kageyama’s stomach. His fists and jaw clenched with his heart. The cheerleader’s intentions had never been to hurt anyone, but he couldn’t deny how roughly he often treated his teammates. But his dark thoughts dissolved in sunshine when Hinata spoke up.

“Who the heck cares? That’s in the past. Kageyama is hard working and bases me properly, so I don’t see a problem. ‘Sides, with my speed and tumbling skill, he can toss me however he wants so long as he tosses me.”

Kageyama may have stopped breathing. But, he didn’t have time to think too hard about Hinata’s words because Hinata was dragging him onto the mats so they could begin their routine.

Kageyama, Hinata, and Tanaka stood in a line, heads pointed to the mats. The pop music was set to start after their first chant. The three cheerleaders clapped their hands so loud it echoed through the gym; though the sound was nothing compared to the three’s over-energized voices.

“Give me a C! Give me an R! Give me an O and W. The Crows are gonna stomp all over you!”

A bass dropped over the boom box suddenly as the three swiveled their hips. They punched the air, jumped in toe-touches then bounced into herkies. When they touched back down, Tanaka and Kageyama immediately moved to lift Hinata above their heads. The flyer balanced on one leg and grabbed his free foot pulling it above his head in an unsurprising but nonetheless impressive display of flexibility.

Kageyama and Tanaka flipped Hinata backwards as he dropped his scorpion pose. He slipped easily from their arms into a back handspring, which he followed up with a layout across the mats. Tanaka took his turn tumbling, and even pulled off a back tuck that bounced into a front tuck. When he finished his tumbling pass, Tanaka didn’t so much as wave to the crowd as punch the air and scream.

Next, Kageyama gave himself a running start before springing into his layout, pivoting when his hands first touch the ground. He flipped once, then twice before letting himself bounce vertically into the air and somersault backwards. He landed perfectly, feet together and even on the ground with his hands at his sides. But, the forced smile and hasty wave detracted from his performance.

However Hinata was all giddy, pleasing smiles from the start of his pass to the end. Despite barely giving himself a running start (wanting to use as much of the mats as possible for tumbling) Hinata tumbled through the air so fast he was barely anything more than an orange blur. His body formed perfect arches through the air, interspersed with flips and twists that reached gravity-defying heights. Though his landing sent him bouncing backwards a bit ungracefully, the ecstatic joy clear on the little cheerleader’s face along with his peppy poses and waves made sure no one cared (except maybe the nit-picky Tsukishima).

As the pop music beat on, Kageyama and Tanaka launched Hinata into a basket toss so high Hinata could’ve dunked a basketball. He did a side-split midair before twisting backwards and landing comfortably in his base’s awaiting arms. Ooo’s and Aaa’s erupted from their audience. Kageyama and Tanaka swung Hinata around, repositioning him so they could launch him again. Hinata brought one leg above his head right as an electronic “ding” cut through the pop song in typical cheer remix fashion.

“Woo! Hinata!” Sugawara’s voice rose above everyone’s clapping.

Kageyama and Tanaka caught Hinata again, this time supporting the little flyer as he flipped forwards onto the mats. The music quieted, and the cheerleaders hurriedly grabbed their pompoms for their chant.

“You might think you’re hot, And we hear you talking smack. But when you see us stuntin’, You might as well step back!”

The three jumped into toe-touches. They landed, throwing their arms into tight V’s above their head. Hinata, showing much more constraint than he had the other day, managed to keep his pompoms in hand.

“Might as well step back!”

Tanaka leaned forward, hands on hips, shouting theatrically, “Say what?”

“You might as well step back!” Kageyama and Hinata cheered in reply.

Tanaka held his pompom to his ear making a goofy face, “Still can’t hear you~”

“We said step back!” This time all three of them cheered, “Step back! Quit that yakety-yak! You’re playing with fire. So before we attack, Step Back!”

Tanaka swiftly pulled Hinata up while Kageyama bent to grab the boy’s feet. The two bases pushed Hinata into the air where he twirled through a scissor kick. As Hinata landed in Kageyama’s arms, he gripped the boy’s shoulder and sent him a look, eyes sparking with the addictively dizzy feeling of spins and flips. They communicated silently, almost instinctually. Now was the point in the routine where they would’ve done a basic full up (Hinata would twist around in their hands while Kageyama and Tanaka brought him up in the air), a visually pleasing though relatively safe stunt. But, Hinata wanted more. More. Higher. Now.

Kageyama could do nothing but nod. He wanted to do that stunt as much as Hinata. Immediately, Hinata moved across the mats to set himself up for the running start he would need to pull off the stunt. Kageyama moved too, clapping Tanaka on the back as he did.

“We’re doing the stunt,” Kageyama whispered.

Tanaka muttered a “well, shit” under his breath, but moved to Kageyama’s side. He wasn’t about to argue in the middle of their routine. The two stood opposite Hinata, making it look like the both of them were preparing to base Hinata. At the last second though, as Hinata arched through the air as break-neck speeds, Tanaka stepped away leaving while Kageyama leaned down to grab Hinata’s waist just like they practiced.

There was a blur of motion, gasps from the crowd, and all eyes on Hinata’s somersaulting form. Kageyama held his hands above his head, catching Hinata’s feet. For a moment, the flyer teetered sideways and time seemed to freeze. You could hear a feather drop on the gym floor, the pop music somehow evaporating into the background. But Hinata instinctually corrected his wayward momentum and found himself standing over six feet in the air, held aloft in Kageyama’s palms. They’d… actually done it.

Without warning, Kageyama adjusted his grip on Hinata’s feet, firmly supporting the right foot. For another breath-stopping second Hinata listed sideways, but Hinata was quick on his feet. He shifted his balance ever so slightly pulled up his left knee, threw his arms into a V, and realized he didn’t need to make a cheer face because he already had a huge grin spreading from ear to ear.

“GO CROWS!” His voice boomed through the gym.

The second Kageyama safely returned Hinata to the ground, the rest of the team seized upon them.

“That was amazing!”

“Amazing? Looked dangerous… But impressive!”

“Tanaka what the shit? You let these newbies do a stunt like that?”

“Me next! Me next!”

Daichi clapped both Hinata and Kageyama on the shoulders. Though the terrifying look their Cheer Captain gave them pierced their very souls, Sugawara stood behind his boyfriend gesturing with a thumbs-up and a refreshing smile. Finally, Daichi’s stony face broke into a full-on grin.

“Clearly, you two learned to work well together so… Welcome to the Karasuno Cheer Squad!”

Kageyama and Hinata didn’t even have time to bask in the glory of their victory, however, before a voice coming from the gym doors interrupted everyone.

“So these are the newbies Ryuu told me about”

In the doorway stood a young man, barely taller than five feet, with spiked black hair (a lock of it drooping over his forehead bleached blonde) and arms crossed over his chest. Pompoms hung from his bag and a sparkly bow decorated his messenger bag’s strap.

“Noya! You're back” Tanaka called.

The cheerleader’s mouth split into a devilish smirk, “Only if you help me get Asahi back!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this update was a long time coming so thank you for everyone who stuck with me and everyone who's jumping on board now. Next chapter we'll see the whole team come together as well as a little Nekoma~


	3. Mission Asahi

Kageyama and Hinata crept down the third-year hallway, searching the crowd of students passing by on their way to eat lunch. Though the cheerleaders’ stomachs rumbled, the two valiantly pressed forward. Noya had given them a mission, and they would not fail.

More accurately, Hinata was dead-set on bringing Karasuno’s #1 base back to the team and in doing so make Nishinoya proud of him. Kageyama, meanwhile, wanted to check out his competition— making the team stronger was a bonus. Nishinoya’s directions, however, had been less than precise.

_“Your mission, should you choose to accept it,” Nishinoya began, he and Tanaka comically attempting to loom over Hinata and Kageyama, “is to bring Azumane Asahi back to the squad!”_

_“Or die trying!” Tanaka added, though Sugawara swiftly punched him for it._

_“Okay but why us? We don’t even know what this guy looks like.” Kageyama asked, unperturbed by Tanaka’s attempt at intimidation._

_“Oh, trust me, you’ll know when you see him. Just look for a tall guy with long hair.” Sugawara said._

_“But we–” Kageyama started, but Tanaka interrupted him._

_“Listen! You two are exactly the type of guys who can convince Asahi to rejoin the squad! When he sees all the potential in you first-years, he’ll remember his love for cheer and beg to come back!” Tanaka and Nishinoya nodded together, absolutely confident in their plan._

Of course, the two had neglected to say why Asahi quit the team in the first place, but Hinata figured if his senpais didn’t mention it then it didn’t matter. He and Kageyama peered inside a classroom trying with all their might to stay out of sight and failing miserably. The two drew attention from every third-year passing by, especially when they started pointing at people, arguing in hushed tones, and returning to search the crowd of students.

“He’s got kinda long hair doesn’t he?” Hinata whispered.

“That guy isn’t tall!” Kageyama whispered back.

“Yes he is!” Hinata rose his voice, drawing even more attention to the two first-years.

“Just because you’re a shrimp doesn’t make everyone else tall!” Kageyama said, seconds away from giving Hinata a noogie.

Just as Hinata opened his mouth to defend himself he ran face first into a wall. At least, he thought it was a wall. It wasn’t until he jumped backwards that he saw, in fact, he’d collided with a boy who looked more lumberjack than high school student. At least six foot tall, wide shoulders, biceps straining his uniform, a goatee that only made him look more manly compared to his baby-face classmates, and luxurious long brown hair tied in a bun on his head. Hinata would bet all the meat buns in the world that this was the guy.

The third-year seemed to blush, and tried to stutter out an apology about not looking where he was going, but Hinata and Kageyama interrupted.

“Azumane Asahi!” They shouted together, making the young man even more anxious.

“Rejoin the squad!” Kageyama added.

“Wh–” Asahi took a step back as though he were five seconds from running. Hinata had to mediate.

“Wait, I should explain. I’m Hinata Shouyou. This is Kageyama Tobio.”

“We’re first-years on the Karasuno Cheer Squad.” Kageyama said, “I’m a base, he’s a flyer.”

Hinata nodded in affirmation, as though anyone could think Kageyama was a flyer or Hinata was a base. “We’re here to bring you back to the squad!”

“No.” Asahi responded immediately, already trying to walk away.

“At least come to practice.” Kageyama insisted.

“The team needs you!” Hinata tackled Asahi’s leg. But the former cheerleader kept walking— Hinata’s weight meant nothing.

“No it doesn’t!” Asahi gently peeled Hinata from his leg before rushing down the hallway.

“At least tell that to Noya!” Hinata yelled after Asahi as he disappeared around the corner.

“We should go after him.” Kageyama said when Hinata got up from the hallway floor.

“We’ve gotta try another approach. What did Tanaka say again? When he sees our skills, he’ll want to rejoin?”

Kageyama smirked, “Then that’s what we’ll do.”

During the next passing period, Kageyama and Hinata stood poised at opposite ends of the hall around Asahi’s classroom. Curious third-years packed the doorways and the windows, wondering what these wacky first-years were up to this time. When the two spotted Asahi’s head towering above his classmates, they each sprinted into impressive round-offs. Both did a tuck as they met in the middle of the hallway right in front of Asahi’s class, high-fiving during the tuck.

Then Kageyama and Hinata bowed deeply to Asahi, “Please rejoin the team!”

Asahi’s face went beet red. Though it was clear he was about to refuse, he was saved by a familiar voice.

“What are you two doing in the third-year hallway?” Daichi’s voice boomed over his classmates’ chatter.

Hinata and Kageyama straightened immediately.

“Nothing.” They lied stiffly.

_“Hinata, Kageyama,” Sugawara added as the first-years were just leaving the gym for their mission, “Don’t tell Daichi okay? He’s very protective of Asahi.”_

Daichi crossed his arms over his chest, “Is that so? Then you wouldn’t mind getting back to your own classrooms.”

“R-right Captain!” Hinata and Kageyama said, their inside voices apparently turned off.

As the two started walking cautiously away Daichi added, “And make sure to walk not tumble.”

“Yes!”

\--

“Well, that was a bust…” Kageyama said, grumpily drinking his milk box.

“Maybe the tumbling wasn’t impressive enough.” Hinata said picking at his now mostly empty lunch box.

The two sat outside on a bench near the track. Lunch period was almost over, but neither was in a hurry to get back to their class.

“We high-fived mid-tuck! What more could he want?”

“…He hasn’t seen our ultimate stunt.” Hinata said, “That would change his mind.”

“We can’t do that stunt in the hallway! It’s too dangerous and the ceilings aren’t tall enough.” Kageyama reasoned.

Hinata looked up the classroom windows thoughtfully. After a moment he pointed to the right, “That’s where the senior hallway starts, right?”

“Uh, yeah, so?” Kageyama continued sipping at his straw though it now made an empty gurgling sound.

“That means…” Hinata counted the windows along the upper floor, “Asahi’s classroom is those set of three windows there… and Asahi sits by a window.”

Now starting to get what Hinata was getting at, Kageyama said, “And we both have study room this period.”

“We’ll still get in trouble if we get caught.” Hinata said plainly.

“Not enough to keep us from the squad.” Kageyama got up from the bench and crushed the milk box in his hand. He turned to Hinata and offered him a hand, “So let’s go cheer.”

\--

Asahi rested his chin against his hand while his teacher droned on. From studying all night to the two incidents in the hallway, Asahi was exhausted. He absent-mindedly turned his head to look out his classroom window at the grounds below and immediately regretted his decision.

Two figured moved along the grass below. Asahi paled as he recognized the first-year cheerleaders. Kageyama and Hinata were staring right into his classroom window as they performed. If that didn’t already make Asahi want to puke with anxiety, the first-years’ next stunt definitely did the trick.

All of a sudden, Kageyama grabbed Hinata by the waist and hurled him vertically in the air. Not so much as a spotter to help. Still, Hinata landed in Kageyama’s palms with an easy balance and a wide smile that shone bright even from a distance. Hinata pulled his leg back in a scorpion position before spinning back to the ground.

_What._

Kageyama and Hinata performed single-base stunt after single-base stunt, and every single time Asahi’s heart sunk further into his stomach. _Hadn’t today been embarrassing enough?_

Apparently not no. Just then Kageyama and Hinata started _cheering_ ,

“Check out our stunts, look at our cheers, Asahi, get your ass in gear! If first-years can do it, you can do it too! C’mon Asahi, Karasuno needs you!”

Mercifully, they were interrupted as a teacher from the classroom next door opened her window to yell at them, “What are you two doing out there!? Get back to class before I call the principal!”

Kageyama and Hinata skittered away while Asahi was left a blushing mess. Everyone in the class, his teacher included was staring at him. It was the second most embarrassing moment in his life. And he knew exactly who to blame.

\--

At practice, Kageyama and Hinata rolled out the mats sullenly. Though they’d managed to avoid the principal’s office, Daichi still gave them a lecture on responsibility and respectfulness, and assigned them mat duty for two weeks. And no one was allowed to help them. Not that Tsukishima would offer (though Yamaguchi at least had the decency to look sorry for them).

When Tanaka and Noya came into the gym, Daichi made a beeline for them as well. Of course, neither Kageyama nor Hinata had snitched, but Daichi wasn’t a fool and this half-baked scheme just screamed Tanaka and Noya.

“You knuckle-heads! Don’t go sending first years to harass Asahi!” Daichi had his arms crossed over his chest with his disappointed dad™ face firmly in place.

“But Daichi! The team needs him!” Tanaka complained.

“Don’t give me that! It’s Asahi’s choice to be on the squad or not. Don’t go disrespecting his decisions and send first-years to manipulate his soft, gentle heart! I bet you didn’t even tell them the reason he quit the team in the first place!”

“It doesn’t matter why-” Noya tried to interject, but Daichi interrupted him.

“Doesn’t matter? If it doesn’t matter, then why don’t you tell Kageyama and Hinata exactly why Asahi left?” Daichi gestured to said cheerleaders who’d just finished setting out the last mat.

Kageyama and Hinata looked up expectantly. Tanaka chewed his lip, eyeing Noya. Meanwhile, Noya just froze, eyes wide, fists clenched.

“All he did was drop me! So what? Flyers fall all the time! Who cares?” Noya avoided eye contact with his underclassmen in favor of glaring at Daichi.

“Asahi cares!” Daichi shot back. “So if you disagree with his decision, _you_ need to talk to him, Noya! The fact that you haven’t proves it was a bigger deal than you’re willing to admit!”

Noya looked ready to punch something, “Asahi doesn’t listen to me! You want me to talk to him? Fine. I fucking will! If just to prove that he’s being stubborn and unreasonable!”

Noya marched away, his rage barely contained in his little body. Not ten steps out the gym door, though, and he was face-to-face (or rather, face-to-chest considering their height difference) with exactly the boy he’d been so intent on finding. But, the rage and the passion drained out of him as quick as it’d erupted, leaving him grasping for the right words. Asahi looked… well he looked about as pissed as Noya had ever seen him. Save that one incident that caused all this.

“Asahi…”

“Noya.”

“I- are you coming back? To the squad?” His voice was uncharacteristically fragile.

“No, Noya. I’m here to tell you to stop sending first-years after me. They’re going to get in trouble if they keep going. Or _hurt_ if they keep stunting like that.”

“Don’t worry, Daichi already lectured them. And me. I don’t need another one.” Nishinoya’s voice turned viciously bitter with his disappointment.

“Noya, I know you’re angry, but I _can’t_ come back.” Asahi said.

“Yes, you _can_ , Asahi. The squad _needs_ you.”

Asahi took a deep breath, “I dropped you, Noya.” He sounded exasperated.

“You’ve dropped me before. Flyers get dropped all the time. It just comes with the job.” It was everything Noya could do not to scream.

“I dropped you during sectionals. We didn’t make it to regionals because of me. Y-you broke your arm because of me…” Asahi’s voice broke as he spoke and Noya’s heart may have broken with it.

“I healed. I’m fine.” Noya stepped forward, holding his arm out to show how very not broken it was.

“And what? You think you’ll keep healing after every fall? You think you’re invincible, Noya, but you’re _not_.”

“I know I’m not invincible, Asahi! How many times do I have to say this? That’s what spotters and mats and practice are for! That’s what you were for! You were my safety net…”

“Before I dropped you–” Asahi stared to the ground.

“No, before you left! Before you yelled at me in the infirmary for being reckless! Before you didn’t talk to me all of break! I wanted to give you space but… I just can’t leave things like this.” Noya took another step forward.

“But I was so out of line when I yelled at you... I thought you’d never want to talk to me again?” Asahi’s voice was so unsure. Apparently Noya had to spell it out for him.

“Are you kidding? Not want to talk to the guy who practically carried me to the hospital? Asahi, I don’t even want to be on the squad without you there.”

Asahi moved forward, a hesitant step, “…Really?”

“Of course! You’re the most important person to me, and I trust you with my life. I thought you trusted me too?”

“I do!” Asahi said, the space between them was almost painful.

“Then trust me when I say, the team needs you… I need you.” Noya’s voice cracked and tears filled his eyes.

The two cheerleaders finally closed the distance between them, falling into a tearful embrace.

“I missed you.” Noya said, burying his head in Asahi’s chest.

“I missed you too.” Asahi whispered back, holding him closer.

The clung to each other like the other might disappear any moment. Noya wiped his tears on Asahi’s uniform while Asahi ran his hair through Noya’s gel-thick hair.

“Get a room, lovebirds!” Tanaka’s voice interrupted their beautiful moment from the gym door.

Both Noya and Asahi leapt apart, blushing. Though, Noya offered Asahi a shy smile.

“M-maybe it is time we made this official?” He gestured between him and Asahi. His face from his cheeks to the tips of his ears burnt bright red.

Asahi returned the smile and blush, scratching nervously at his goatee, “Y-yeah?”

Noya bravely grabbed Asahi’s hand, squeezing it ever so slightly before dropping his arms back to his side, “We can talk about it later. Let’s get to practice.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to put a little more in here but I figured I'd dedicate the entire chapter to Asahi instead. I hope that was okay! Next chapter will definitely feature Nekoma so get ready!


	4. Cat Fight!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah! My computer DIED literally while I was writing this chapter. Luckily I'd been backing up my files so I only had to rewrite a part of it.

“–Five, six, seven, eight!”

Captain Daichi ran the first-years through the new routine’s choreography while the rest of the team stretched (and Kiyoko sat in a corner with her laptop editing songs together). Hinata kept rushing his moves while Tsukishima lagged behind the beat. Yamaguchi continued to miss steps out of nervousness, and though Kageyama was more or less on beat and had the routine down pat, his faces were a mess. Daichi pinched the bridge of his nose as Kageyama attempted another smile.

“Alright, stop. Let’s just move on to the stunts. Drop your tight V’s, go into a basket toss here, put Hinata down, and Tskushima, Yamaguchi, you’ll move back, and Kageyama will throw Hinata up for the single-base.” Daichi directed.

“Wait, you’re putting a single-base stunt in this routine?” Asahi asked from where he and Noya stretched together on the floor. “I thought Kageyama and Hinata were just being over the top yesterday…”

“No, they’re always like that.” Daichi sent an exasperated side-eye towards the first-years in question. “But we are definitely doing the stunt.”

“AND SO ARE WE!” Noya exclaimed, slapping Asahi on the back with a wide grin.

Asahi’s face paled, “Noya, I’m not sure I can do that–”

“Asahi, I’m not gonna make you do anything you’re not comfortable with,” Noya squished Asahi’s face between his hands, “but are you really gonna let those first-years show us up?”

Asahi tried to say, “Maybe” but all that came out was, “Mh-mm,” with how Noya’s hands squished his cheeks.

“C’mon Asahi-san! It’s not as hard as it looks!” Tanaka gestured to Noya who immediately jumped up to his side.

Tanaka wasn’t as tall or wide as Asahi, but he was absolutely shredded, and he threw the little flyer up with ease. Asahi could feel the anxiety itching at the back of his head as Tanaka caught Noya by the feet and the two wobbled. When they managed to right themselves, Noya pointed straight at Asahi who still couldn’t breathe quite yet,

“See? So are you gonna let a couple first-years AND Tanaka beat you?”

Asahi finally exhaled and reached up to lift Noya out of Tanaka’s arms. Hugging Noya’s legs, chin poking into Noya’s stomach, Asahi looked up at his boyfriend, “Not a chance”. He chuckled when Noya tangled his hands into the taller cheerleader’s hair and leaned down to kiss the top of his head.

“I don’t mean to be _that guy_ , but you might want to stop with the PDA while teach’ is watching.” Tsukishima said.

Noya and Asahi jumped apart, looking over at the gym door where Takeda stood looking just as embarrassed as the teens. Next to him stood a long-haired, blonde man who appeared utterly unimpressed. Takeda adjusted his glasses and aggressively avoided eye contact with anyone.

“Hey, Sensei, what are you doing with that guy from the corner store down the hill?” Tanaka asked, cutting through the awkwardness.

“Oh, right, everyone, this is Ukai Keishin. Grandson of Karasuno’s former cheer coach, Ukai Ikkei.” Takeda gestured to the somewhat intimidating man who them gave curt nod.

“What? Old Man Ukai’s grandkid? The one who used to cheer for Karasuno during its glory days?” Noya asked already recovered from his embarrassment.

“Glory days. You make me sound so old.” Ukai grimaced.

“Are you going to be our new coach?” Suga asked.

“Yes.” “No.”

Takeda and Ukai glared at each other for a long moment.

Ukai finally sighed, “I’m willing to _consider_ coaching you if you can prove to me you’re worth my time by performing in a competition setting. I want to see how you do under pressure.”

“But sectionals aren’t for months and we never get selected for invitationals. Where are we going to perform?” Suga said.

“Don’t worry, I’ve thought of that!” Takeda answered proudly.

“See, I’ll be going to _the_ Sendai Varsity Cheer Showcase next weekend in my grandfather’s place. Sign ups have been closed for a while, but your persistent teacher found out a team got disqualified recently and got you their spot.” Ukai explained.

“N-next weekend?” Asahi whispered, horrified.

Ukai had the audacity to smirk, “Yep. Hope you guys have a routine ready.” The whole team exchanged nervous glances, many of which were aimed very directly towards their freshmen recruits.

“With that, I have to get back to work. Good luck.” Ukai said, giving them a short wave as he walked out of the gym.

“Oh… oh my cheer gods. We’re going to the Sendai Varsity Cheer Showcase.” Suga tried in vain to cover his giddy grin with his hands.

“Teams from all over Japan show up for the Sendai Showcase!” Noya jumped up excitedly, hugging the nearest body, which happened to be Tanaka since Asahi had put so much distance between them after getting caught in such a lovey-dovey position.

“Cool! …What’s a showcase?” Hinata asked and immediately regretted it.

The stunned eyes of his entire team were on him in an instant. Kageyama nearly gave himself whiplash, turning his head in surprise. One of the second years Hinata didn’t know that well yet even did a spit-take. They’d all forgotten just how little cheer experience Hinata actually had.

“A showcase, is where cheer teams exhibit their cheers on stage like in a competition, but there are no judges, no prizes. This showcase is particularly huge because of it’s timing before sectionals. Teams go to show off and size up the competition before comp season really begins.” Suga jumped into exposition before anyone could make a snide comment.

“OH!” Hinata exclaimed. A wide grin spread across his face. His entire body shook with excitement at the prospect of seeing some of Japan’s top cheer teams live on stage.

Daichi slapped Hinata on the back while putting his arm around Suga’s shoulder, “Enough standing around, let’s get practicing.” Daichi nodded to Kiyoko who sent him a thumbs-up and played her latest edit of their routine’s cheer mix.

As the team went through their routine, everyone found new bounce in their step. They’re cheers were a little louder, their dance moves a touch sharper, and their stunts a bit higher. Takeda and Kiyoko each stood on the sidelines, frantically taking notes of the routine and the music.

By the end of practice, everyone was exhausted but exhilarated. Takeda had long left: things to do, papers to grade. Tanaka, Ennoshita, Kinoshita, and Narita walked home in a crowd of laughter, friendly shoves, and general ruckus. Asahi and Noya trailed behind the group of teens, their hands linked together as they spoke in gentle whispers. The first-years all seemed to live in the same direction; so the four of them walked home together, too tired to pick on each other.

Kiyoko was the last one to exit the gym. She packed up all her sound equipment and lugged a duffle full of towels and water bottles out of the gym. She figured she’d stash most of it in the club room like usual. Daichi and Suga caught her on her way out though.

“We can take care of that, Kiyoko. You go on ahead.” Daichi said, taking the bag from her hands.

“And,” Suga gave Kiyoko a quick hug, “Thank you for all your hard work on the cheer mix. It sounds great.”

“Seriously, you’re an amazing editor. We’re lucky to have you.” Daichi added with a dashing smile.

Kiyoko returned Suga’s hug and smiled at the two cheerleaders, flattered. “Thanks Koushi, Daichi. I know you guys are gonna do great at that showcase.” She passed them the key to lock up the gym and waved them goodnight.

After locking the gym, Suga and Daichi walked back to the club room to put away the bag and change out of their sweaty practice clothes. Suga wrapped an arm around Daichi’s waist as they walked.

“You really think they’re ready?” Suga finally whispered after a moment of quiet.

“Hm… You mean the first years? No.” Daichi chuckled, “No, I don’t. They’re a mess, but Hinata and Kageyama at least get along now… somewhat. And Yamaguchi already has the experience and the skills, he just needs a little more confidence.”

“And Tsukishima?”

“I’ll find something to light a fire under his ass eventually. Maybe this showcase will be the right motivation for them to bring it all together.”

“I think you mean, motivation to ‘bring it on’.” Suga said through a fit of giggles. He clung tighter to Daichi’s side as he doubled over laughing at his own reference to the painfully inaccurate cheer movie franchise.

Daichi rolled his eyes and kissed Suga through his laughter.

 

\--

 

The day of the showcase, the Karasuno squad piled out of a bus, yawning and rubbing the last bit of sleep from their eyes. They’d barely had enough of a budget for the bus and so couldn’t swing a fancy hotel room like a lot of the other squads. Kiyoko helped unload their props and make up while Takeda signed them in.

The small team stood out like a soar thumb among the large co-ed teams with their big sequined bows displaying logos from national competitions and their shiny new uniforms showing off strong abs and great legs on both girls and boys. Tanaka thought he was going to have a nosebleed.

Technically, Karasuno was a co-ed team. They’d had girls on the team before. It just so happened that none of the current female student body at Karasuno High School wanted to be cheerleaders. Any and every girl with tumbling experience wanted to be on the girl’s gymnastics team. Daichi figured it had something to do with the very attractive, very popular, and very lesbian gymnastics captain, Yui Michimiya. Kiyoko even did a lot of the music for their floor routines. She only hung out at the cheer practices because she, and this was a direct quote, “could get more work done without all the pretty, athletic girls flirting with her.”

“WOAH!” Hinata shouted as the squad filed into the auditorium. Rows upon rows of chairs encircled the massive stage. This wasn’t some rinky-dink school gymnasium hosting a middle school cheer competition. This was a _stadium_ — filled with dozens of cheer squads all larger and sparklier than Karasuno. They stood at the top of the stairs which seemed infinitely long to Hinata who was suddenly feeling a rush of vertigo. The pop music beating painfully in his eardrums didn’t help with the onslaught of nausea.

“I’m gonna be sick.” Hinata choked out, holding his now extremely queasy stomach as he rushed back out towards the bathrooms.

“S-should someone go follow him?” Yamaguchi asked.

“Let’s at least grab out seats first. This place is filling up fast, and I don’t want to be anywhere near those speakers with how loud this music is playing.” Daichi said. He looked to Kiyoko to see if she’d spotted somewhere they could sit, but her gaze was currently preoccupied watching a short brunette girl in a long-sleeved teal and white uniform with a particularly flouncy skirt. Daichi sighed. They’d lost Kiyoko so early this year. He directed his team towards some chairs he spotted to the side, but on his way, he bumped into another cheerleader.

Daichi stepped back, “Sorr-” but his words caught in his throat when he recognized the colors on the uniform. Red and black with a big paw print embroidered over the heart. Nekoma. The wearer of the uniform was obviously the captain. He exuded an air of leadership and intimidation even with his hair sticking up at ridiculous angles despite the obvious effort someone had put in to smoothing it back. He stood at the center of his team, all boys wearing the same red and black pants and shirt uniform and all sporting big, glittery black bows with red trim.

“Oya, oya?” The captain practically purred, “You must be Johzenji’s replacement, Karasuno right?”

Daichi was immediately irritated by the guy’s tone of voice, “Yeah. I’m the captain, Sawamura Daichi.”

“Kuroo Testurou, Captain of the Nekoma Cheer Squad. You know our schools apparently had quite the rivalry back in the day. Our coaches were frenemies or something.” Kuroo laughed, his smile friendly.

“Yeah, Coach Ukai used to talk about that sometimes. He retired last year.”

“Ooh. Is that why you guys have sucked so much? Your Coach was just getting to old?” Kuroo put a hand on his hip and his smile transformed into an impish smirked.

“You want me to fight him, Daichi?” Tanaka asked, already gripping the hem of his cheer shirt, ready to pull it off. Well this escalated quickly.

“No, Tanaka. It’s fine. I’ll handle this.” Daichi pushed Tanaka backwards, trying to maintain his image of a levelheaded captain. Suga rolled his eyes at the effort. He could see the unadulterated competitive fire already burning in Daichi’s eyes.

“You wanna fight, huh? No one touches a hair on our Captain’s head without getting through me first, tough guy.” A mohawked Tanaka look-alike roared from next to Kuroo.

Kuroo smiled mischievously, “Calm down, Taketora. I’m sure this doesn’t have to get physical,” Kuroo’s eyes smoldered as he raked his eyes down Daichi’s figure, lingering on his thighs before snapping back up to stare him directly in the eyes. “Unless, of course, you want it to.”

Now Suga’s temper flared. He wasn’t about to let random strangers make cheap passes at Daichi and get away with it, “Excuse you, that is my boyfriend you are talking to!” He gripped Daichi’s hand as if to prove the point.

Then Noya jumped into the verbal fray while Asahi anxiously stood behind his teammates, worried this might turn into a legitimate fight. Luckily, his boyfriend was above that (just barely.) “That’s right! Don’t mess with us, kitty-cat! We can cheer your ass through the floor!”

If Kuroo had cat ears, they undoubtedly would’ve perked up.

“Kuroo no.” The shortest member of their team tried to reason.

“Yaku, weren’t you listening? They just challenged us to a cheer off. We can’t just refuse! We have a reputation to uphold.” Kuroo put his hand over his heart, feigning dismay.

“And what reputation is that?” Tsukishima asked, quirking an eyebrow and staring disdainfully over the rim of his glasses at the Nekoma captain.

Kuroo grabbed a pair of pompoms from one of his teammates and smirked, “Being the cattiest squad in Japan, of course.”

“Pun intended.” Yaku added in exasperated monotone.

“At Cheer Camp last year, we were voted ‘Most Likely to Challenge You To a Cheer Off and Fucking Destroy You,’” Taketora said with eerie gratification.

“Prove. It.” Daichi crossed his arms over his chest and glared fiercely at Kuroo.

“Oh I intend to.” Kuroo struck a pose, arms above his head, his pompoms glittering like camera flashes under the stadium lights. He swung his hips and began a chant,

“Nekoma’s cheers are lit. Karasuno is shit. If you step outta line. Expect to get hit. Got it?” On the last line, Kuroo swung his pompom deliberately so the tinsel would brush against Daichi’s face.

Daichi brushed the pompom away before clapping his hands firmly and letting his voice boom loud and proud, “Lit cheers? Oh dear! Didn’t your team lose last year? If you really think you’re the best. Why don’t we put it to test?” Daichi swung his leg in front of him in a heal stretch before swinging it back down and doing a little pivot to strike a pose that put his butt in plain view. He had no delusions about what his assets were.

Whether it was mentioning his team’s loss at championships or the sight of Daichi’s ass that set him off, no one really knew, but Kuroo’s mischievous smirk dropped into something much more sinister,

“Ha! You really think you can win? You’re a buncha washed-up, has-beens. Poor, naïve country bumpkin, Let me clarify somethin’.”

Kuroo’s dance moves were so sharp they could cut diamond and his glare stabbed into Daichi’s soul.

“If Johzenji hadn’t dropped the ball, You wouldn’t be here at all. So real back that attitude. To us you’re merely cat food.” Kuroo bit the air right in Daichi’s face.

Daichi swallowed thickly. His mind raced but he was coming up empty. Suga frowned when Daichi just stood there, absolutely lost for words, for any sort of comeback.

Tanaka tried to save it, but he was never really good at thinking of cheers on his feet, “T-hats some big words, city boy. Go play with your kitty toys!” It didn’t help either that Tsukishima had to hide a snicker when the way Tanaka said “city boy” sounded like “shitty boy”.

Kuroo noticed, and immediately lighten-up at Tsukishima’s giggles.

“Ha, good one.” He said with only mild sarcasm, “You’re not a bad cheerer yourself, Daichi. Not as good as me, but who is, really?” Kuroo started walking away, his team following closely behind him, “I look forward to seeing your routine.”

Daichi stared after the rival team Captain while Suga gently patted his shoulder.

“C’mon,” Ennoshita spoke up, pushing Tanaka and Tsukishima towards a section of empty seats, “Let’s sit down.” The rest of the team followed his lead.

 

\--

 

Hinata exited the bathroom feeling mostly recovered from whatever case of nerves or vertigo or whatever he’d had when he walked into the stadium. Luckily, he’d thought to bring his toothbrush and was now minty-fresh albeit breakfast-less. He decided to search for some vending machines for water and maybe a snack if he didn’t feel too queasy.

The little flyer wove against the flow of traffic through the crowd of cheerleaders. Eventually, he made it to a nearly empty stretch of hallway on the other side of the stadium. There, he also spotted a vending machine. He swore a beam of light came down from the heavens to shine upon such a glorious find. Hinata shoved in his money and pressed a few number letter combinations into the machine. The water bottle and gingerale came out fine, but as his granola bar was falling from its coil perch it flipped to just the right angle so that it stuck between a shelf and the glass.

“Oh come on!” Hinata groaned, hitting the machine, an action that resulted in a sudden, surprised “eep”.

Hinata jumped back, completely sure that the vending machine was alive and he’d hurt it.

“Oh crap, vending machine, I’m so sorr–”. The words were already out of his mouth by the time Hinata glanced down and made eye contact with a boy huddled on the floor over a 3DS.

The boy had long blonde hair, but his roots were showing so much Hinata wondered if the look was intentional, like a bad ombre job or something. The boy had big, observant eyes lined in stunning, red eyeliner that perfectly matched the red of his uniform. The rest of his face sparkled with some glittery highlighter and his lips shimmered with lip-gloss. The only thing his look was lacking was the black glittery cheer bow that wrapped around the boy’s wrist instead of adorning a ponytail.

Hinata blushed at the realization that this pretty boy had seen him try to talk to a vending machine, also that he’d scared the boy by hitting said vending machine, “S-sorry. My bad.”

The boy shrugged, “It’s okay, here.” The boy smacked the vending machine’s side with his elbow then pressed the pound key on the keypad, and Hinata’s granola bar fell to the bottom with a dull “thunk”.

“Oh my gosh!” Hinata yelled, snatching his food out of the machine and hugging it to his face, “Thank you so much!” He smiled brightly at the person who was now and forever labeled “friend” in his mind.

It was the boy’s turn to blush at the way Hinata beamed at him, “Ah… no problem.”

“I’m Hinata Shouyou! 1st year at Karasuno High School. Nice to meet you.”

“Kenma Kozume. 2nd year. Nekoma.” Kenma responded. Hinata sat down next to him and peaked at Kenma’s screen.

“What’cha playing, Kenma?” He asked, cheery and genuinely interested. Kenma gave Hinata a soft smile. He allowed the orange haired boy to lean further into his personal space and explained the plot of his fantasy game. The two sat like that for a while, totally oblivious to their teams’ blossoming rivalry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very much here for breaking gender norms and you can bet ALL the boys wear make-up and bows and sparkly outfits to competitions/showcases if not just as casual day-wear. And nope, no one questions this or has a problem with it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you stick with me for further cheer offs and cheer drama.


End file.
